Wire stretcher and splicer.



No. 765,190. PATENTED JULY 19, 1904. G. F. MOYERS. WIRE STRETGHER ANDSPLIGER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 1, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

wag; zmmzorg, 153/ Atoms Patented July 19, 1904.

UNIT STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE F. MOYERS, OF CARLISLE, IOIVA.

WIRE STRETCHER AND SPLICER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 765,190, dated July 19,1904.

Application filed .Tune 1, 1903. Serial No. 159,433. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE F. MOYERS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Carlisle, in the county of INarren and State of Iowa, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Wire Stretchers andSplicers, of which the following is a specification.

The objects of my invention are to provide a wire-stretcher of simple,durable, and inexpensive construction which can be easilyand readilyattached to a post and the mechanism of which can be so operated as todraw the wire forwardly past the post, and thus enable the operator totack the wire to the post.

A further object is to provide means for operating my stretcher whichcan be easily used and it will require a minimum amount of power tooperate.

A further object is to provide a wirestretcher which can be attached toeither side of a post and yet can enable the operator to pull the wirein either direction.

It is my object, further, to provide a clamp which can be easilyattached and readily detached from the wire to be stretched.

My invention consists in certain details in the construction,arrangement, and combination of the various parts of the device wherebythe objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully setforth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, in which Figure 1 shows in perspective the stretcher with thecentral portion of the body broken away and a portion of the chain whichpasses around the post broken away. Fig. 2 is a detail longitudinalsectional view of the front portion of my stretcher and is designed toshow the way in which the chain forming a portion of my wire-stretcherpasses between the ratchet-wheels which are mounted at the front endthereof. Fig. 3 is an elevation of the clamp which is attached to oneend of my chain. Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view of my wire-clamp.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, I have used thereference-numeral 10 to indicate the body portion of my stretcher, whichis preferably made of hollow metal tubing. Near the front end of myframe I have mounted the supports 11 and 12, said supports beingattached to each other, thus forming a fork-shaped portion, which isattached at its rear end to the front end of the body portion of mystretcher. Mounted in these supports 11 and 12 and connecting them isthe rotatably-mounted shaft 13. Mounted on said supporting-shaft andbetween the supports 11 and 12 is the forked lever 14, one of the armsof said forked portion resting against the support 11 and the other armof said forked lever resting against the support 12. At the upperportion of the forked lever 14 is a handle used for rocking said lever.

Rotatablymounted on the rod 13 and between the arms of the forked lever14 are the ratchetwheels 15 and 16. On the inner face of each of theseratchet-wheels I have provided projections which extend toward eachother and are substantially at right angles to the face of each of theratchet-wheels. These projections are designed to engage the links ofthe chain for drawing the wire, which will be mentioned hereinafter.Attached to each arm of the forked lever 14 on the interior of said armsand immediately above the ratchetwheels are the pawls 18 and 19, saidpawls being designed to engage the ratchets of the ratchet-wheels whenthe upper end of the lever 14 is moved forwardly, and when the upper endof the lever is moved rearwardly the pawls will slide over the ratchetsof these ratchet-wheels.

Attached to the support 12 and in engagement with the ratchet-wheel 15is the pawl 20, said pawl being designed to hold the ratchetwheelsagainst rotation toward said pawl 20 ment with said beveled portion itwill be thrown forwardly and out of engagement with the projections onthe ratchet-wheels. For the sake of designating the projections a littlemore clearly I have referred to them by the numeral 22.

Ihave provided awire-clamp-bearing chain which is designed to pass overthe supportingshaft 13 and between the projections 22 on the inner facesof the ratchet-wheels 15 and 16 in such a way that these projectionswill engage the links of the chain and cause the chain to be drawnforwardly when the wheels 15 and 16 are rotated by moving the upper endof the lever forwardly. This chain I have referred to by the numeral 23.Attached to one end of the chain is the wire-clamp having a body portion24. Projecting upwardly from one edge of this body portion 24 is theratchetfaced projection 25. Pivotally mounted on the other edge of thiswire-clamp is a second ratchet-faced member 26. Extending upwardly fromthe ratchet-faced member 26 is the shoulder 27. This shoulder isdesigned to be struck by an arm or similar article for throwing theratchet-faced member 26 out of engagement with the wire, which isdesigned to be passed between the ratchet-faces of the portions 25 and26. It will be seen that as the wire is placed between the portions 25and 26 of the wire-clamp thatthe portion 26 will swing toward the wire,and it will be held firmly between these portions, and as the chain isdrawn forwardly by locking the lever 14 the wire-clamp attaching thechain and the wire, to which the said wire is also attached, will bedrawn forwardly, provided the body portion 10 is attached to a post.

Slidingly mounted on the body portion 10 of the wire-stretcher is thechain 28, said chain being attached to the slidingly-mounted link 29.Ihave also provideda slidingly-mounted link 30 on said body portion,said link having a book 31 extending outwardly from it and designed toallow a link of the chain 28 to be passed over the hook to hold thewirestretcher in position to a post or other object. I have provided awire-guide 32 near the upper, rear portion of my stretcher and firmlyattached to the body portion 10. This link is split at its upper portionto allow the wire to be passed into it. a

My wire-stretcher is designed to be so attached to a post that the wirewill be drawn past the post to which the stretcher is attached, and thusenable the operator of the wirestretcher to nail the wire to the samepost as that upon which the wire-stretcher is mounted. This is due tothe fact that the point of attachment of the wire-stretcher to the postis behind the draft device. In the previous stretchers it has beencommon to fasten the wires to the post behind that one to which thestretcher is attached, and it is almost essential that there be two menin putting up the ordinary'wire fence.

In practical use and assuming that the operator desires to set up a wirefence on posts which have already been set in the ground he attaches oneend of the wire to the first post. Then he passes the chain 28 aroundthe next post in consecutive order away from the one to which the wirehas been attached and hooks one of the links of said chain 28 over saidbook 31. Then he passes this wire into the guide 32 and attaches thewire-clamp to said wire. He then passes the chain 23 between theprojections 22 on the ratchet-wheels and rotates said wheels by drawingthe upper end of the lever 14 forwardly. This causes the wire to bedrawn forwardly and stretches it from its point of attachment, so thatit can be easily and readily attached to a post to which thewire-stretcher is fixed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States therefor, is

1. In a device of the class described, the combination of a bodyportion, ratchet-wheels rotatably mounted at the front of said bodyportion, projections-on the inner faces of said ratchet-wheels, apawl-bearing lever mounted outside of said ratchet-wheels for rotatingthem, awire-guide mounted on said body portion and at the rear end ofit, a wire-clampbearing chain designed to pass between saidratchet-wheels, adjustable means for attaching the device to a post andmeans attached to the body portion for throwing said chain out ofengagement with said projections as the ratchet-wheels are rotated, forthe purposes stated.

2. In a device of the class described, the combination of a bodyportion, supports attached near the front end of said body portion, asupporting-shaft mounted between said supports, a lever mounted on saidshaft, ratchet-wheels mounted on said shaft and between said supports,projections on the inner faces of said ratchet-wheels, pawls mounted onsaid lever for engaging said ratchet-wheels,

a pawl mounted on one of said supports for engaging said ratchet-wheelsand preventing them from rotating in one direction, a chainadjustablymounted on the body portion designed to be passed around apost to attach the device to the post, a wire-clamp-bearing chaindesigned. to pass between said ratchetwheels and be engaged by saidprojection as the wheels are rotated, a wire guide mounted near the rearend of the body portion of my device, for the purposes stated.

3. A wire-stretcher comprising in combination a body portion,ratchet-wheels mounted at the front of said body portion, projections onsaid ratchet-wheels, a wire-clamp-bearing chain, designed to be passedbetween and enportion, a Wire-guide mounted near the rear gaged by saidprojections, means for rotating end of the body portion for the purposessaid ratchet-Wheels in one direction, means for stated.

preventing the ratchet-Wheels from being ro- GEORGE F. MOYERS. 5 tatedin the opposite direction, means for at- Witnesses:

taching the device to a post, a pivotally-mount- I J. RALPH ORWIG,

ed chain-releasing rod attached to the body W. R. LANE.

